A detailed inquiry of the differences between headphones and loudspeakers influences on dynamic postural task performance.

We examined the impact of auditory stimuli and their methods on a dynamic balance task performance. Twenty-four young adults wore an HTC Vive headset and dodged a virtual ball to the right or left based on its color (blue to the left, red to the right, and vice versa). We manipulated the environment by introducing congruent (auditory stimuli from the correct direction) or incongruent (auditory stimuli played randomly from either side) and comparing a multimodal (visual and congruent auditory stimuli) to unimodal (visual or auditory stimuli) presentation.

Frequency analyses of postural sway demonstrate the use of sounds for balance given vestibular loss.

Purpose: To investigate how adults with unilateral vestibular hypofunction and healthy controls incorporate visual and auditory cues for postural control in an abstract visual environment.

Methods: Participants stood on foam wearing the HTC Vive, observing an immersive 3-wall display of 'stars' that were either static or dynamic (moving front to back at 32 mm, 0.2 Hz) with no sound, static white noise, or moving white noise played via headphones.

The Relationship between Chronic Unilateral Hearing Loss, Balance Function, and Falls Is Not Informed by Vestibular Status.

Objectives: Recent studies suggest that hearing loss is associated with balance dysfunction and an increased risk of falls. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether adults with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) have an underlying vestibular dysfunction and whether vestibular testing explains balance function and fall risk.

Study Design: Cross-sectional.

Computational elucidation of nonverbal behavior and body language in music therapy.

Music therapy has shown efficacy in serious and chronic conditions, mental disorders, and disabilities. However, there is still much to explore regarding the mechanisms through which music interventions exert their effects. A typical session involves interactions between the therapist, the client, and the musical work itself, and to help address the challenges of capturing and comprehending its dynamics, we extend our general computational paradigm (CP) for analyzing the expressive and social behavioral processes in arts therapies.

Identifying important and feasible primary care structures and processes in the US healthcare system: a modified Delphi study.

Objective: To identify primary care structures and processes that have the highest and lowest impact on chronic disease management and screening and prevention outcomes as well as to assess the feasibility of implementing these structures and processes into practice.

Design: A two-round Delphi study was conducted to establish consensus on the impact and feasibility of 258 primary care structures and processes.

Participants: 29 primary care providers, health system leaders and health services researchers in the USA.

Anterior-Posterior View Acquisition During Videofluoroscopy: A Survey Study Exploring Influential Factors on Speech-Language Pathologists' Practice Patterns.

Purpose: This study explored factors influencing speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') decision making surrounding anterior-posterior (AP) view inclusion practices during videofluoroscopic swallowing studies (VFSSs) in the United States.

Method: SLPs completing VFSSs were recruited to complete an online anonymous survey. Questions represented six constructs of interest including: (a) clinician demographics, (b) practice patterns, (c) diagnostic perceptions, (d) professional influences, (e) training and education, and (f) logistical facilitators and barriers.

Word and Gender Identification in the Speech of Transgender Individuals.

Listeners use speech to identify both linguistic information, such as the word being produced, and indexical attributes, such as the gender of the speaker. Previous research has shown that these two aspects of speech perception are interrelated. It is important to understand this relationship in the context of gender-affirming voice training (GAVT), where changes in speech production as part of a speaker's gender-affirming care could potentially influence listeners' recognition of the intended utterance.

Individual patient data meta-analysis estimates the minimal detectable change of the Geriatric Depression Scale-15.

Objectives: To use individual participant data meta-analysis (IPDMA) to estimate the minimal detectable change (MDC) of the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) and to examine whether MDC may differ based on participant characteristics and study-level variables.

Study Design And Setting: This was a secondary analysis of data from an IPDMA on the depression screening accuracy of the GDS. Datasets from studies published in any language were eligible for the present study if they included GDS-15 scores for participants aged 60 or older.

Portable technology for postural control measurement: Comparing head position with center of pressure data.

Background: Standing is a basic human function that healthy adults take for granted, yet it is a complex perceptual-motor process that requires sensation of position and motion from the sensory systems.

Objective: We assessed agreement between center of pressure data from a laboratory force-platform and head position data from an HTC Vive head-mounted display (HMD) for the evaluation of standing postural control. We investigated the impact of different statistical choices when assessing the relationship between two measurements.

A Picture May Be Worth 1,000 Words, but Is It Worth a Letter? Examining Whether the Choice of Label Affects the Perception of Speech Sounds.

Purpose: Researchers often use identification or goodness rating tasks to assess speech perception for different populations. These tasks provide useful information about a listener's willingness to accept a range of acoustically variable stimuli as belonging to the same category and also about assessing how stimuli that are labeled the same may not be perceived as equally good versions of a particular speech sound. Many methodological aspects of these simple tasks have been tested, but one aspect that has not is the choice of label.

Type of auditory cues and apparatus influence how healthy young adults integrate sounds for dynamic balance.

It is unclear whether the brain handles auditory cues similarly to visual cues for balance. We investigated the influence of headphones and loudspeaker reproduction of sounds on dynamic balance performance when an individual is facing a cognitive challenge. Twenty participants (16 females, aged 19-36) were asked to avoid a ball according to a specific visual rule.

The association of resilience and positive mental health in systemic sclerosis: A Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) cohort cross-sectional study.

Objective: A previous study using Scleroderma Patient-centered Intervention Network (SPIN) Cohort data identified five classes of people with systemic sclerosis (also known as scleroderma) based on patient-reported somatic (fatigue, pain, sleep) and mental health (anxiety, depression) symptoms and compared indicators of disease severity between classes. Across four classes ("low", "normal", "high", "very high"), there were progressively worse somatic and mental health outcomes and greater disease severity. The fifth ("high/low") class, however, was characterized by high disease severity, fatigue, pain, and sleep but low mental health symptoms.

Incidence, Complications, and Long-term Outcomes of Gender-affirming Phalloplasty: Analysis of a Large Statewide Population-based Dataset.

Objective: To evaluate the incidence of gender-affirming phalloplasty and postoperative complications in a large population-based dataset.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study was done using the California Department of Health Care Access and Information datasets which include patient-level data from all licensed hospitals, emergency departments, and ambulatory surgery facilities in California. Adult patients 18 years or older undergoing gender-affirming phalloplasty in California from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2019 were included.

Deciphering the underlying mechanisms of the pharyngeal pumping motions in .

The pharynx of the nematode is a neuromuscular organ that exhibits typical pumping motions, which result in the intake of food particles from the environment. In-depth inspection reveals slightly different dynamics at the various pharyngeal areas, rather than synchronous pumping motions of the whole organ, which are important for its effective functioning. While the different pumping dynamics are well characterized, the underlying mechanisms that generate them are not known.

Examining the Relationship Between Multiple Tests of Receptive Vocabulary.

Purpose: Numerous tasks have been developed to measure receptive vocabulary, many of which were designed to be administered in person with a trained researcher or clinician. The purpose of the current study is to compare a common, in-person test of vocabulary with other vocabulary assessments that can be self-administered.

Method: Fifty-three participants completed the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) via online video call to mimic in-person administration, as well as four additional fully automated, self-administered measures of receptive vocabulary.

Weighting of visual and auditory inputs in dancers with and without previous ankle injury.

Elite dance requires highly controlled balance performance in dynamic visual and auditory environments characterized by the use of stage lighting and music. Perturbing visual input is known to influence balance in dancers, but the effects of sounds have not been clearly established. Ankle inversion injuries are common in dancers and may also play a role in dancers' ability to respond to sensory perturbations.

Contextual sensory integration training vs. traditional vestibular rehabilitation: a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: We created a clinical virtual reality application for vestibular rehabilitation. Our app targets contextual sensory integration (C.S.